Friday, August 28, 2015

I cannot get enough of this game. SERIOUSLY. This game is like a 200 hour game and trust me, I've been playing all 200 hours. I really didn't know much about the Witcher games prior to The Witcher 3. This game is an action packed open world game. The game is actually based off some fantasy novels that I would love to get my hands on. The novel are Polish and this video game is also made by a Polish company. What's really neat about the company (CD Projekt Red) is they are so friendly to their players. They have a website that players can go to and ask questions. ALL DLC is free to those who bought the game which is pretty unheard of anymore.

In this game we play as Geralt (that sexy guy on the cover) who travel around the world and can do battle with swords and magic. I really love that as you play the game the choices and actions you make will change the ending of the game. I already killed someone by accident and didn't want to go back to an old save point and save them. So I just dealt with the consequences. You switch back between Geralt and another woman character Ciri. This works really well in the game. For those of you who are gamers and have seen that this game is getting 10 out of 10, believe that score.

There is swearing and sex in this game... so it is a mature game. The graphics are just stunning. I think since the game is so long you really become attached to some of the characters. I wish I could go back and play Witcher 1 and 2 but I am sure those are probably impossible to get. I recommend this game to everyone... it was worth the 200 hours of my life.

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

I
read a lot of comics and rarely review them here on the blog. That's
because I really don't have a lot to say for an entire post. So I
thought I would review several comics on one post. I will still review
graphic novels on their own now and then, but this is where I will talk
about super-hero type comics (DC/Marvel) or sequels to some that I have
already reviewed.

I loved this series... it's another one though that DC is cutting out of the New 52 line up. In this book we find out that Black Canary's husband might live.. IF she teams up with Ra's Al Ghul. Suicide Squad shows up in this issue and of course that part was fun (I love them). Lots of other stories put into this issue to tie things up. Batgirl is having issues still from the Death in the Family story line... of course they are actually tying up her story since she gets a reboot after this comic. The comic has a Future's End story included at the very end of the book. After reading this comic I feel like Birds of Prey was just pushed to the side since they knew it was ending. I would only recommend this comic for those who have read the New 52 series and want to finish off the Birds of Prey. 2 out of 5

I am so glad I read this comic (thanks to the recommendation from Where the Reader Comes to Write). This comic was right up my alley. For those that don't know I play Dungeons and Dragons with friends at least once a week. This comic totally reads like I was playing an RPG or a game like D&D. Hannah the Rockabilly
Elven Mage, Violet the Hipster Dwarven Fighter, Dee the Atheist Human
Cleric and Betty the Hippy Smidgen Thief are the characters that we get to follow and boy are they great! I am so glad this comic got buzz or I may have never discovered it. I put volume 2 on hold right away. The humor in this book actually made me laugh out loud a few times. The art is fantastic too. Thereare swear words and some sexual content and what not in this comic... so if that bothers you then yes skip this (though you will regret it). 5 out of 5

I started reading the Marvel OZ series a few years ago when I did a big event here on the blog for the Wizard of OZ. It was a pretty fun month. After the event I continued reading these comics. The art has been fantastic all along as well as the writing. The comics follow the Baum books really well. I like that we get to see a lot of the characters from all the previous comics. Dorothy travels around in this book to different towns meeting different groups of characters who are just charming. This book is were Baum was actually going to end the OZ series so it is fitting that Shanower also ends here. These comics make me want to read the entire OZ series, but too many books too little time. I hope to see more comic adaptations between Young and Shanower again. I would recommend this book to everyone who loves OZ. 5 out of 5

Next up I read Volume 5 of Superman. Superman has a few different comic series out there but not quite as many as Batman so I've been able to stay pretty caught up. The whole Wonder Woman/Superman love story is apart of this comic with Lois being Clark's best friend. We all know men and their exs can't be best friends so we'll see where that goes. Clark is still working on that blog instead of at the Daily Planet. Lois has become some sort of minion for Doomsday and now Superman is also becoming a minion. The comic continues in Superman Doomed so I am not sure if the Superman comics are now going to be canceled. I just looked and found that there is a Superman The Men of Tomorrow that just came out this month. Is this vol 6?? I don't know. Damn you DC for confusing me. This is a strong series for Superman I just want them to write Lois out of it and this was a confusing book. There are just too many stories from other comics so this book never gets it's own good story.

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Reading on vacation is one of my favorite things to do. I recently too an amazing trip to San Fransisco. It was super fun. Funny thing is before I left I went through the dilemma that most of us readers go through.. figuring out what books to take on the trip. And... those of you who have been on a road trip know it's even harder because you feel like you really can pack ALL the books... even hardbacks into the car with you. So this trip I lined up all my books ... probably like 8 comics, 2 novels. I knew I was going to get through all these books. I mean... the drive was about 40 hours round trip.

I did end up leaving the comic books at home. They aren't the paper ones that you pick up in the comic book store they are volumes so they collect all the issues and are in hardback. So I thought.. well I won't drag those along. I jump in the car with books in hand thinking I am going to read these great books... then... 5 am starts and sleeping comes. I sleep all the way till 10 am and then basically it's my turn to drive (split the days to about 10 hour days). Don't worry I have high hopes for the next day!

Day 2 of driving starts up... sleeping again till 10 am. Next thing I know my turn to drive. There's that book waiting for me. Off to the hotel and straight to sleep. San Fransisco has so much to do so every day we hit the streets and went non-stop. So by the time we get back to our hotel room I am straight to sleep. That book is still sitting there. So of course I plan on reading it on the trip back home right??? Umm.. yeah, sleep till 10... then drive. Those books never were touched.

Every time I go on vacation I get so excited to get lots of reading done. But in the end... I end up spending time... well on vacation! I have no regrets and picked out the books for the trip is just as fun as being on the trip and not actually reading those books. Till next summer vacation when I go through the same routine.

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. “Jess and Jason,” she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.
And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?

Well... this book made me break my goal of only reading books I own or finishing series I've started. I heard so many things about this book so I had to put it on hold at the library. It's actually quite a fast read, I think it's because they book itself has a good pace. It is similar to Gone Girl by Gillain Flynn so if you liked that one you will also like this one. The build up to what happens is pretty fun... I suppose I did guess who was going to be the bad guy. I did get annoyed throughout the book with the whole "I can't remember" anything. Ughhh that is what annoyed me about the The Maze Runner by James Dashner so many questions with no answers till the very end.

The book does a great job with showing each woman's perspective (there are three women). Rachel the main character deals with depression and alcoholism. I think as a woman reading her sections it was amazing. Her problems with her marriage, her jobs, just a good story. I will say though that sometimes Rachel was a little needy. I mean... this book is based on her getting involved in a stranger's problems for no damn reason but to be in some sort of drama. It was very Rear Window.. looking out into someone's life and becoming apart of it.

In the book there would be flash backs mixed in with the current story which worked well too. I was confused sometimes and to which woman did this or that and had to stop and think about it. But otherwise it was good. I think one lesson you can take from the book is that you never know what is going on in someone's life just by looking at them. They can look happy and fabulous but at the same time their life is a mess.

This book also made me think of my cross-country train trip on Amtrak. Well.. from Colorado to New York. Those of us from out west don't ride trains very often. We really don't have any. In the bigger cities there are light rails but that's as close as we get. Riding Amtrak for days is something all Americans should experience. So I know how Rachel felt looking out at the tracks as you fly past houses wondering what those people in the yard are up to. Fascinating.

Monday, August 10, 2015

I
read a lot of comics and rarely review them here on the blog. That's
because I really don't have a lot to say for an entire post. So I
thought I would review several comics on one post. I will still review
graphic novels on their own now and then, but this is where I will talk
about super-hero type comics (DC/Marvel) or sequels to some that I have
already reviewed.

I really like this series so I am sad this is the last one. Though.. they oddly revamped it (see the following review). This issue basically is about Amanda Waller. It takes place during the whole Forever Evil thing going on (Crime Syndicate). This must be hard for the authors because they are trying to explain to us what exactly went on in other comics and at the same time coming up with a new story. So we read a lot about the Reverse Suicide Squad coming in. No one knows who the boss is so both teams are confused. I don't know why this is a final volume.. when I went to read volume 1 in the new Suicide Squad it seemed they wanted to get rid of some characters and keep others on the team. I don't know why they couldn't just do that in volume 6. But instead they move everything to a new series. Huh. Well 3 out of 5

The "New" Suicide Squad was provided to me free of charge from Edelweiss and DC for an honest review. I would like to thank them for providing me with a copy. Honestly... I really loved the first Suicide Squad series so I was a little nervous about this revamp. There are a lot of team members coming in and out in this comic. A new boss of the team instead of just Amanda Waller. Two new members are Joker's Daughter and Deathstroke. Joker's Daughter is only in this comic for a short time, and I don't really understand her character. She found Joker's face and wears it and tries to be crazy like him. One thing that really surprised me in the comic was that it takes place overseas.... China, Russia. I don't know but it just didn't work for me. I really love seeing Harley Quinn in action. She is fun. I am not sure which comic series will influence the new movie?? Art work is amazing in this comic .. Amanda Waller is suddenly all sexy. I give this 4 out of 5

I had seen this comic reviewed on a few blogs so when I saw it was available at my library I had to read it. I went into it not knowing anything. For one thing I had no idea that the author also writes the Walking Dead. The comic is about Kyle who has been haunted by demons his whole life. Most of his family becomes possessed. Kyle keeps being called Outcast by the people he knows who are possessed. By the end of this volume we don't exactly know what Outcast means which is a little too bad. One thing about the comic I felt was there wasn't a lot of story. I wanted a little more from the first volume. The story was sometimes just thrown together and I had to figure out what was going on.. this volume seems to just start in the middle of the story. There is an example below of the confusing dialog. I think I am going to skip the next volume even though it is an intriguing story. 2 out of 5

I loved the Court of Owls arc that came out a few years ago. It was super super good. So when I found out about the Talon comics I was really really interested in reading them. Vol 1 is pretty good but very different from the Court of Owls series. This series no longer has all the dead Owls coming back. It takes place after that night. Calvin Rose is a previous Court of Owls member who escapes and gets away from the group. Of the night of the Owls coming out and Batman getting involved Rose things the Owls are vulnerable so he tries to go after them and finish off the remaining members (Batman does pop in and make an appearance). The villains in this comic are great and actually look scary. I enjoy learning the history of the Court of Owls and finding out what they are up to today. Will for sure be continuing this series. 4 out of 5